SSB Field day

Over the weekend of 3rd and 4th of September 2016 members of the society took part in SSB field day.

For those not familiar with this event, it is a radio contest, organised by the RSGB, where we attempt to make as many contacts, with as many different countries as possible.

The contest started at 2pm (local time), and ran for 24 hours. The rules mean we are not allowed to rely on any fixed buildings or mains power. We arranged a rota, with 2 hour shifts, to ensure we had people operating throughout the 24 hour period.

We arrived around 09:00 on the Saturday at a field in the grounds of Redhill Aerodrome, which Alex, M0IDM, had arranged permission for us to use.

We constructed our station which consisted of the club tent, a 10m mast and a 5.4m mast supporting an off-centre fed dipole (thanks Denis, M0NDJ), the club generator and an Elecraft K2 transceiver, which Steve, G1MPW, supplied.

For those staying overnight camping was the order of the day, with fish and chips arranged by Neil, M0ZEY, on Saturday night, and Neil again cooking bacon sandwiches for Sunday breakfast.

It was interesting to see the number of both fixed wing and rotary aircraft operating from the field, including both the police and air ambulance helicopters being based on the site.

The weather was not great, with rain, as forecast, persisting throughout the night, however by the morning things improved, which meant all tents had dried out by the time it was time to pack away.

Band conditions weren’t great, with 40m being the busiest band at the start of the contest, with a few contacts also made on 20m, with 80m picking up once darkness fell. The following morning as the sun came up everyone seemed to move back to 40m, where a few more contacts were made.

Overall we made 318 QSOs over the 24 hour period the contest ran, which is slightly down on previous years.

Many thanks to Redhill Aerodrome for allowing us to use their field for the event.